A short version of the birthing story:

My perception of time in the following events may be slightly distorted, but I believe this is reasonably close.

Earlier in the day, Manijeh drove to Portland to drop off our friend, Hermit Kyle Bray, and visit with other friends while I - operating on 3hrs of sleep and 3 cups of coffee – finished wiring the basics of the house - the last big “Before Baby ToDo” item. We now have washer/dryer, dish washer, outlets and temp lighting… just in time!

At 1:15am Manijeh’s water broke and, after a few OMGs, we called our sibling doula / neighbor, Sandra, and our midwife + crew. Sandra and I spent the next hour making the space tidy and relaxing.

We filled our claw foot tub and that is where Manijeh spent the beginning of the birth. After an hour or so in the tub, she moved to the living room and rocked for a short time on a pillow. She then returned to the tub. With all of the dish washing and cleaning, the hot water had nearly run out, so we heated water on the wood stove. This worked out well and gave us something to laugh about. The moonlight came through the window and shone perfectly on Manijeh’s belly as she labored.

Orin woke around 3:00 asking “Mama, are you yelling?” We explained that the baby was coming and that everything was fine. Sandra stayed with him, reading books and explaining the process.

Midwife Katherine Zeiman, and her crew arrived around 4:00am followed shortly by our friend, Katie Silva. I held Manijeh’s hand while Orin stood on a small stool and watched as the baby’s head emerged.

Once the baby was born and checked out by the team, we watched from our living room as dawn crept in and Mt. Adams caught the sun’s first rays. Meadow larks sang in the trees, robins peeped in the grass, tiny frogs chirruped in the pond and our little family grew by one little bear. Oxytocin makes all of this glow brightly in memory.

I fell asleep with the baby nestled on my chest while the midwife, OB and team checked on Manijeh.

I’d like to say that we all then took an epic nap. Instead we stayed awake until night, growing ever more exhausted and, over the course of the next couple of days, we eventually caught up on our sleep.

Rough plumbing passed inspection and we hooked everything up. Well, we hooked up the kitchen sink, dish washer, and shower anyway. There’s still some wiring to be done in order to run the dish washer and the washing machine. But this is a huge step forward.

We’ve put the permaculture layout on hold as we work on the house. However, I finally made some time to take the initial sketches ( located here ), the rough contour map, and the “basic ideas” map (not shown below), and mix it all together in Photoshop.

This is only a small step toward creating a full plan, but it’s fun to see a little forward motion after so much time spent working on other client projects and the house. I’ll need to make time to finish illustrations for swales, hugels, and the like, but… one thing at a time.